The follow up

At the end of last week, Steve did his follow-up visit at the hospital. I was going to take a picture of his chart (it's eight inches thick; going back only to 2001) but it made the doctor nervous and I didn't blame her. We'd never met before that moment. I wouldn't have let me do it either but the fact is the thing was eight inches thick.

He predicted that he'd be examined and then lectured about drinking, which is more or less, what happened. Two different doctors each took a turn (he's never had the same doctor twice). Both were painfully honest with him, about his condition. There was also the (somewhat) vague offer of inpatient treatment. If he had expressed an interest in sobriety, I believe they would've kept him there but then, he isn't the one running the show (where his options are concerned), alcohol is.

So, I might ask the question, of people who know more than I do about it...why do so many of us continue to believe that alcoholics are capable of making rational decisions? If alcoholism is a disease, then why isn't that the symptom we treat first? Why not a pill or a shot that releases the grip of alcohol long enough for a person to want treatment? Steve's been dependent on alcohol since he was eighteen years old. That's twenty-six years (of the same well-intentioned approach).

View from the bridge

This isn't new and many of you may have seen it already but because of the subject matter here of late, I went looking for it. It's a golden piece of work (which may explain why PBS has it). NeedCom Market Research for Panhandlers.

The photo above is the view from what I've been calling Steve's bridge. Beyond the pair of white doves, he has two vivid recollections about working the bridge. One is when a woman gave him money and then jumped his case about using the word God on his sign, and the other is the time a man in a suit and tie got out of his car and asked to pray for him. Steve said it was fine and afterward, the man gave him forty dollars. He tells both of these stories, but always returns to the woman who lectured him.
I just can't believe there are people who get offended by a blessing from God, he'll say.

A little wind burn

It turns out, the shave, wasn't altogether intentional. Steve took a shower at Barney's the other day, his first in over a month, and according to him, he went to shaving and had a miss hit. Personally, I think it looks sensational but I didn't say too much about it at the time. Men have their own reasons for facial hair or lack thereof. I try not to interfere.

Now, nearly a month after Steve was released from the hospital, he's finally begun to recover a little, in spite of his living conditions. Don't misunderstand, he still has the belly, but he's getting around a lot better and taking his medicine regularly.

That plastic bracelet would've driven me insane by now.

The message

So yes, I was going to let Steve have a day or two of rest and now according to my voice mail, he's gone and shaved his beard off. I thought I had taught these people to call me when such things are about to happen but clearly it was something more spontaneous.

Christmas window

Unfortunately, sometimes the best picture is completely out of focus. I didn't find the woodcarvers yesterday but I did run up on this scene, where a homeless man does his first bit of Christmas decorating in twenty years. What a production. The first thing that happened was that Barney pulled the rope on that crusty set of blinds in his window and the whole shebang broke out of the brackets. I wasn't there for that part but he marched up to the office and demanded that new ones be installed immediately, which of course, didn't work.

He spent another hour talking about how he was going to have to lie there all weekend, buck naked, in front of the window and did I want to get a picture of that. Eventually, he and Steve hung the lights with little trouble and made a curtain out of wrapping paper, in order to spare his neighbors the unrepentant view. Once it was all finished the two of them went outside and declared it the best decorated window on the street

Accessories

I'm not supposed to say who this elegant shaving kit belongs to.
You'd laugh if I did anyway.
All smiling and proud of himsef, he said, You know how long I've had that can of shaving cream?

Well yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. Congratulations.

I'm off today to find either of two men who carve walking sticks. One of them uses a magnifying glass. Think about that for a minute. According to Steve, he even works sometimes on cloudy days. The other man uses a knife. Some of his goods were stored in the girlfriend's truck, last week. Cheers.

Barney's Christmas tree

Just fifteen minutes after I posted last, there was word on the voicemail that Steve was summarily evicted from the van. Not unusual. Sources said he was up at the bridge but there was someone else working that corner when I got there so I checked at Barney's and there he was still feeling, and looking, a little better. He's decided to stay there for a few days and rest up. When I left the two of them (around 5:30 p.m. yesterday) they were planning to string blue Christmas lights around the window. I probably should've stayed for that.

Photographers will want to know that Slate and Magnum have partnered to bring us regular online interactive feature stories (everybody say ooooh baby). The introduction is here. Don't know if it's my browser or a bug but the sound was sketchy or missing in some places. Regardless, the stories couldn't be better.